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Day 2 Mountains All Around…

Welcome to day 2 of the 2015 Fabri-Quilt New Block Blog Hop!!! I hope you took some time yesterday to visit the wonderful blogs that shared their block designs and tutorials. The blocks and tutorials from yesterday are all AMAZING!!!

Today is the day that I get to share my block and tutorial with you. Each of the participating bloggers received a bundle of (6) fat eighths of Fabri-Quilt prairie cloth cotton solids that we used to design our own original 12 ½” by 12 ½” (unfinished) block. The guidelines are that we have to use at least 3 of the fabrics from the bundle and we cannot use any other fabrics. My original plan was to use only the greens and blues, but when I received the fabric and saw the watermelon fabric I knew I was going to use it. For me, summer makes me think of the blue sky in Colorado, the Rocky Mountains, hiking trails, green meadows, camp fires and amazing sunsets. This palette is a great match for all those things. So, let’s get started on my block, Mountains All Around!

General Pattern Notes:

Sew all seams with an accurate 1/4″ seam allowance. The Mountains All Around block is a 12 1/2″ unfinished block, made up of 4 – 6 1/2″ unfinished blocks.

Cutting Directions:

Piece A (light blue) 4 – 3 1/4″ squares

Piece B (Watermelon) 4 – 2″ x 3 1/4″ strips

Piece C (Watermelon) 4 – 2″ x 4 3/4″ strips

Piece D (Dark Blue) 4 – 4″ squares (cut on the diagonal to create 2 triangles from each square, you should have 8 triangles after you cut these)

Piece E (Green) 4 – 4″ squares (cut on the diagonal to create 2 triangles from each square, you should have 8 triangles after you cut these)

Piecing Instructions:

Step 1…

Pieces used:

4 of Piece A – 3 1/4″ squares

4 of Piece B – 2″ x 3 1/4″ strips

Sew piece B to the right of piece A as shown in the diagram. Press seams. Make 4 units.

Step 2…

Pieces used:

Pieced units from step 1

4 of piece C 2″ x 4 3/4″ strips

Sew piece C to the unit from step 1. Press seams. You should have 4 units, this unit forms the mountain in your block.

Step 3…

Pieces used:

Pieced units from step 2

Take your square unit from step 2 and fold it in half to finger press a crease. Do this in both directions. The blue lined in the diagram represent where the finger creases should appear. The finger crease will be a visual guide you can use to line up the outer triangles in the next step.

Step 4…

Pieces used:

Pieced units from step 3 with finger creases

4 of the triangles cut from piece D (triangles cut from 4″ squares)

4 of the triangles cut from piece E (triangles cut from 4″ squares)

Turn the unit from step 3 on point so the piece A square is at the bottom as shown in the diagram below. Using the finger creases as a guide, line up the point of the triangle with the finger crease and pin a triangle from piece D to the top, left of the unit. This will make sure your triangles are centered.

Repeat this process and pin a triangle from piece E to the bottom, right of the unit, opposite the triangle from piece D.

Sew both triangles to the pieced unit and then press seams towards the triangles. These units represent the sky and the meadow around the mountain in your block. Your pieced unit should now look like the diagram below.

Step 5…

Pieces used:

Pieced units from step 4

4 of the triangles cut from piece D (triangles cut from 4″ squares)

4 of the triangles cut from piece E (triangles cut from 4″ squares)

Using the method described in step 5, line a triangle from piece D on the top right side of the unit and pin. Repeat this step with a triangle from piece E. Sew both triangles to the pieced unit. Press seams to the triangles.

Step 6…

Pieces used:

Pieced units from step 5

Square up your block so it measures 6 1/2″ square and be sure to remove those dog ears so they don’t add bulk to the block.

Step 7…

Pieces used:

4 – 6 1/2″ squared units from step 6

Layout 4 of the 6 1/2″ blocks so the mountain peaks all point in different directions. Sew the top 2 units together and sew the bottom 2 units together, as shown in the diagram below. Make sure your seams line up. Press the seams (I pressed the seams open to reduce bulk).

Step 8…

Pieces used:

2 units from step 7

This is your last step to finishing a Mountains All Around block. Line up the 2 units from step 7 and make sure the seams line up. Sew the 2 units together. Press the seams (I pressed the seams open to reduce bulk).

There you have it, a 12 1/2″ (unfinished) Mountains All Around block. I hope you enjoy this block.

Here are a couple potential layouts for this block, the secondary patterns that are created with the block are dependent on how the 6″ (finished) blocks are placed in the 12″ (finished) blocks.

One note if you are using the Fabri-Quilt prairie cloth cotton solids I recommend that you prewash your Fabri-Quilt Prairie Cloth Solid fabrics, with like colors. Some of the bloggers experienced some shrinking or running of dye when they steam pressed their fabrics or used sizing to press their fabrics. I did not steam press or use sizing as I felt the fabrics already had a good amount of sizing and they responded well to the dry iron so I did not experience these issues.

Thanks so much for visiting today and reading my tutorial. If you decide to make this block I would love to see the results, tag me on Instagram at @quiltnparty and use #mountainsallaround. Come back Thursday to see another project I am working on with this block.

In the meantime, make sure to visit all the other blogs that are participating in the 2015 Fabri-Quilt New Block Blog Hop. If you want to see who participated yesterday go to yesterday’s post. There’s a great fabric giveaway with this Blog Hop so be sure to check it out and enter.

42 thoughts on “Day 2 Mountains All Around…”

I really how this block comes together on its own, and the different layout options are both striking. I think I really like the second layout because the coral starts to be really graphic and almost looks like a zia symbol to me (which is on the NM state flag, which is where my husband grew up). 🙂

I absolutely love the name of your block. Though my mountains are slightly different from your mountains I get it 🙂 You did a great job with the tutorial and I can’t wait to see your next project on Thursday.